The purpose of this meeting is to consider submissions on the proposed mental capacity legislation. Any opening statements received by the joint committee have been circulated to members. I will repeat this ad nauseam but I ask members to ask brief and focused questions rather than statements, as this has worked well up to now. A large number of organisations will appear before the joint committee today and we will hear from them in groups. The first group will comprise delegations from the Office of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and Amnesty International. The second group will comprise delegations from the Law Reform Commission and the Law Society of Ireland. The third group will comprise representatives from the centre for disability law, NUI Galway, Mad Pride Ireland and the Irish Human Rights Commission. Deputy Calleary, Senator Bacik and Deputy O’Brien already have indicated their wish to engage with the delegations from Amnesty International, the Law Reform Commission and the Law Society of Ireland, respectively. Representatives from the centre for disability law and policy in NUI Galway, Mad Pride Ireland and the Irish Human Rights Commission also will appear before the joint committee. Perhaps Deputy Creed will engage with the delegation from NUI Galway, which is quite interesting.
Business of Joint Committee
I may not be present for the entire meeting.
If you can. I propose we go into private session for a few minutes. Is that agreed? Agreed.
The joint committee went into private session at 9.34 a.m. and resumed in public session at 9.36 a.m.